Blush
by one.twilight.sun
Summary: Tony's always been fascinated by his PA's tendency to blush.


**Blush** Tony's always been fascinated by his PA's tendency to blush.

He thinks he fell in love with her the first time he set his eyes on her.

There'd just been so much in his head—with new advances in technology, sowing his wild oats and the new night club that had just opened up in downtown—that he hadn't been able to put the right word to it, what he felt when he looked at her. He doesn't take into account the fact that he probably didn't even_ know_ what the right word was, because really, Tony Stark not knowing anything?

At the time, what he remembers most about their meeting is—not those mile-long legs, not her clear blue eyes or her red hair (though he is incredibly partial to the color)—no, what he remembers the most is the first thing she said to him.

He'd forgotten that he was getting a new PA that afternoon and had just stormed into his office, running a bit late for come unimportant person's meeting due to a late night he'd had at the new exclusive Ropa's in downtown and engrossed with a brilliant and extremely genius idea that had hit him on the drive in. He'd tossed his overcoat in the general direction of the PA desk, thrown open his doors, calling off orders for his coffee, lunch and rescheduling of the meeting to a later time as he sat down at his desk with a quick swivel of his chair and started typing on the computer.

He hadn't noticed that someone had followed him into his office until he'd noticed a pair of rather sexy legs parked right in front of his desk. His dark eyes had traveled up and up (and _up_) those legs to meet the dainty features of one gorgeous woman. He'd leaned back in his chair, staring at her appreciatively, a grin on his face.

"Has someone been reading my birthday list?" he'd drawled, slowly taking in her black suit, the rather severe hairstyle for such a delicious color of hair and the serious expression she had on her face.

Her right eyebrow had quirked up slightly (something else that had impressed him, not many people of his association could pull a one-off successfully), the only feature that did not remain impassive in the face of his incredible charm. Her pink lips opened and he'd had to catch himself from staring.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" her sharp but polite tone cut through a lustful daydream that had started to form in his mind and he'd snapped his eyes to her cool blue ones. And he realized that here was the new personal assistant. She was so unlike his previous PAs, women (and one particularly flamboyant man) who were flustered around him, who were slow, clumsy and really only there to be near the Tony Stark but this one—_Virginia was it?_—this woman meant business.

He'd cleared his throat and straightened in his chair. "No, that'll be all, Virginia."

"Miss Potts," she'd corrected.

He'd looked back down at his computer desktop as soon as he'd dismissed her but at this pronouncement, his eyes had snapped back to hers. There was just the faintest flush on her face that, if he'd been a less observant man, he would've missed. He wondered if this was her first job.

"Miss Potts," he'd repeated, not really knowing why, not one to conform to any sort of etiquette with anyone.

She'd nodded and headed back out to her desk. He'd returned to the work he had waiting for him on his computer, the image of her flushed cheeks still in his mind. It was going to be fun to rattle her cage.

*.*

Even before Afghanistan, he had an inkling of the depth of feeling he had connected to this one skinny woman. He'd try to sate that desire on others, women of all different types, because the one woman he wanted above all others was so far out of his reach.

One could scoff because, after all, he was Tony Stark and who wouldn't want to be near a man like him.

Apparently one Pepper Potts.

There was one time, and one time _only_, early on, when he'd tried to pull one of his smooth tricks on his PA.

It'd been a rare late night in his office (for him, at least) and she'd stayed behind to help him wrap up a proposal needed for the board the next morning. They'd ended up sitting across from each other at his desk, papers strewn between them as she tried to sort out the order they went in, occasionally asking him questions.

He'd been ready at that point to clock out but had stayed at her quiet request. To keep his mind somewhat occupied as she looked at the last papers, he'd concentrated on building a castle with the paperclips on his desk. At a sudden shift of the documents in Pepper's hands, the fragile castle tumbled down on his side of the desk and to the floor. Pepper gave no indication that she'd noticed.

Sighing heavily (still no reaction from Pepper), he'd leaned under his desk to grab the paperclips from the floor and was met with a very pleasant surprise.

Pepper was naked.

Okay, maybe not _naked _naked but basically so. For her.

Pepper had slipped her feet out of her high heels (a source of fascination for the man), heels which were laying next to her hose-clad legs. Legs which were stretched out towards him. Indulging himself in high school impulses (something he didn't do often…not), his eyes lingered on her legs, traveling up to where they met her skirt.

Seemingly with no conscious command from him, his hand reached out to touch the slender foot which was just within reach. His fingers had only lightly come into contact with her when he was unceremoniously ripped out of a hazy and startling warm fantasy that had erupted at the sight of her heel-less feet.

With a high-pitched and inarticulate scream, Pepper's legs jerked out from beneath the table and Tony's grasp. Her sudden action surprised him and he recoiled automatically, not wanting to get kicked.

"Ow!" He'd exclaimed as he hit his head against the desk. He'd come up rubbing the spot, only to be met with a glacial look from a very pissed off Pepper. Her face had been bright with that flush that had caught his attention that first day. Except, it'd been anger instead of embarrassment.

Tony had made a note to never get on _that _side of her again.

*.*

That night on the balcony haunts his dreams.

He pictures her face, that face that he's come to know so well over the years, a face that had colored under his gaze in a way that had never happened before, not with that unresolved _tension_ running between them like a taut cord. He'd seen her flush with embarrassment, anger and maybe once in a blue moon (and even then he thinks it's his overactive imagination), shy lust, but not like this. Not like the rosy color of wanting to be kissed.

Her eyes had have closed and she'd moved imperceptibly closer to him. That slight movement had shocked him. So much so that he hadn't immediately taken advantage of it and then she'd straightened and come to her senses and the moment had been lost.

But only in reality.

In his long lonely nights or even sometimes during the days, in between his work at SI and as Ironman, his mind will wander to that night, remembering the inviting way her lips had parted, the slight glimpse of her pink tongue, the languid expression on her face.

He catches himself staring at her when she doesn't know that he's looking. He looks at her from the corner of his eye, knowing something had changed between them and wanting to go there again and break through that barrier but respecting her too much to not push her. He feels like she's forgotten and that hurts that part of him that's just under the arc reactor in his chest.

Then he catches the note of complete panic in her tone when she realizes that he's been dying. And he knows. She's been thinking about it, too.

*.*

She says that he hadn't loved her in _that _way until she'd been about to be blown to bits at that memorable Expo. Or at the earliest: not until he'd found out he was dying from the very thing that he'd built to keep himself alive.

He'll hear the slight uncertainty in her voice, the small doubt she still has of the fact that they're finally here_, together_, and he'll shake his head ruefully. It's something he'd known he'd have to deal with, in finally letting her know how he really felt. She'd seen the worst of him and the very worst of him. He isn't sure that she's seen the best of him because he feels it hasn't happened yet. He feels he'll become the best in his future with her.

When these moments happen, moments which are becoming fewer and further in between, he'll take her into his arms. He'll show her with a soft kiss to the underside of her chin, his unshaved cheek scratching at her pleasantly, his hands losing themselves in her hair, that he's loved her for a very, _very _long time.

And that blush, that rosy red that had fascinated him since the beginning will come over her. But this time, it's caused not by embarrassment, anger or even lust, it's the glow of knowing she's loved by someone who'll cherish her forever.

**Author's Note:**

**I think I owed it to Pepperony fans to write something that's fluffy and showing Tony's dedication because I'm with you: I don't think he'd cheat on her either. Their relationship is so fun and sweet and this was just so nice to write! Leave me a review letting me know your thoughts please!**


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